R.D NS ON 0 11[

13 RD wNS ON~ 0 tJ 11[lt-rpound ltLY 00-r()6E~ (850

REVIEW

490 Tile Cuban Expedition [Oct

Christianity and sustained by supernatural grace or they are no better than castles in the air

But m~ have ex tended our remarks to an unreasonable length and must close Ve hae given Mr Danas works thelllsehes a very inadeqlJa~e reiew and the author may feel that in common justice we should have entered more into deshytail Bllt our purpose has not been a regular criticism of his writings but td discuss with some depth and clearness the subshyject they very naturally suggested and that IIOt foJ his sake but

-- for the sake of our young Catholic aspirants to literary and artistic excellence As a writer )1 r Dana is morbid and wants that mental serenity and that buoyancy of spirit which ollly the Catholic faith and fidelity to the Catholic Church can gie Ve see in his writings the absence of the operations of Catholicity Oil the mind and heall and the presence of much Puritanic pride and scrupulosity But we see at the saClle time a writer of great intellectual power of true genius and for the most part so far llS the forlll goes of cultivated pure and delicate taste His style may be studied as a model and is among the very best specimens of pure English that has been writlen by one born and trained on this side of the Atlanshytic and is rather tIm of an Englishman than of an Amerishycan His relative rallk as a poet we stated in the brief notice t1f his works in our Heiew for last January and though his works are not by any means all we could wish them few if any American productions of the SOrt are more creditable to our literature

ART IV -Cuba and the CT~bans cornpriEing a History of the Island of Cuba its present Social Political and Doshymestic Condition (ilso its Relation to England and the United States Bv the Authormiddot of Leiters from Cuba Vith an Appendix containing important Statistical Informashytion and a Reply to Sefior Saeo on Annexation translated from the Spanish New York Hueston 1850 12mo pp255

THIS book whose author very much to our satisfaction is unknown to us llIay contain some valuable information On the subject of which it treats but it has evidently been written for

I J 1859] 7he Cuban Expedition 491

lthe purpose of promoting a democratic revolution iet Cuba andt of per~uading our citizens t~ lend their ai~ in resling tha~j noble lsland from ~he Spanish Crown and annexing it as State to the Am~rican Union This is sufficient to condemn it and its author ill the minds of all honorable men and espe- cial~y in the mind of every American citizen who retains some respect for international rights andl)ome regard for the honor of his country

A considerable portion of our countrymen have lorig coveted the possession of Cuba and our government pretending that there-was danger of its falling into the handsof Great Britain ~ent so far a few years since e b~lieve as to make overtures

j to the Court of )Iadrid for its purchase But these overtures of course ~re not listened to and the pretence proved so utterly unfounded that the goverpmenl has been obliged tQ abandon it Still the desire for the acquisition of the island has continued and many persons have dlOught that it could he effected by inducing and aiding the native Cubans to revolt bull fro~n Spain establish themselves as an jndependent republic and then apply for admission into the American Union In

J accordance with a plan 9f this sort a military expedition was

I I set on foot within our territories in 18490 assist the Cuban

patriots or pretended Cuban patriots to revolutionize the island This expedition was prevented (or the time being from embarking by the intervention of the Federalgovernmerit shybut it has been renewed during the present year and this tirpe bull suc~essfully eluding the vigilance of the govenment)t actually effected a landing in smaH force and after a smart ~ngagement took posses~ion ltf Cardenas committed several illurders made the governor of the town a prisoner burnt his palace~ and robbed the public tremiddotasury But meeting a determined reshysistance and not finding the native Cubans as ready to Bock to its piratical standard as it was expected they -would be it abandoned Cardenas after holding possession ofit for eightmiddot hours and effected its escape or re~uro to the terrttories pC the llnited States apparently for reinforcements~ 10 ~rder speedily to renew the attempt in stronger force and Wltl~ a- better prospect of final success shy

As to the character of such an expedition agamsta power with whbm we are at peace or of the attempt to wrest from a- friendly power one of its provinces ~d annex it to the Union no matter under what pretext there ca~ be but one opini~n ~mong honorable men and since i~s failure the Ameri~~n press

1 ( 7 ~

i

11 J ~

gt

-

492 1he Cuban Expedition lOct

has oeel tolerably unanimous in condem~ing it hut we Ilay well (IOllot if the press would oe thus umlllllllOUS III comclIIllIllg it if it had ~ucceeded 01 if there were a fair prospect of sucshyces~fully renewing it Had Lopez the chiefof the expedition slIcceeded we hne too lIluch reason to liehemiddote that he would hae been hniled as a hero and welcomed to a seat in the United States Senate oy the side of the llOnorablc Senators from Texas

It cannot be denied that a portion we would fain hope not a Inrge portion of the people of this COIntry have ery I~ose notiollS of riht and wrong and when blmded by tbelr pnsslOns or stilllulated oy their inrerests find little difiicuity in comert shying the pirate into the hero and piracy and murder into wise nlld honorn ble policy To this portion of Ollr citizens religion nnd morality llIunicipal laws and laws of nations have either 110 meaning or an odious meaning when opposed to their inshyterests or their passions their thirst for gold or their Ilist for the aCfplisition or territory Hegarding the will of the people as the supreme law and by a natural and easy process confoundshying the will of the people with the will of the mob or the will of the people as the 5tate with the will of the people outside of the constitlltion and laws they hold that what any portiln of the people wish and are able to do they have the unquestionshyaJe and indefeasible right to do Mistilking the sound and legal republicanism held by our fathers and incorporated into our noble institutions for wild and lawless radicalism they assert

the right of the people or rather the mob in every country to rebel whenerer th~y please against their legitimate sovereign to overthrow with armed force the existing order h~neer it ceases to suit their fancy or caprice and to institute such new order in its place as shall seem to them good Starting with this rerolutionary principle and assuming that all who avail themse1res of it and rise in arms against their sovereign are necessarily the party of freedom struggling for liberty for the inalienAble rights of man they assume that the cause of such party is always the c~use of justice of humanity of God and therefore that we are all free to rllsh to their aid to assist them with our sympathy our counsel our treasure our arms and our blood irrespectie of existing laws the rights ltIf sovershyeigns o~ ~he fath of treaties Hence we find them always sympathlzmg wllh rebels or party at war with their rulers a~plauding theit prowess rejoicing in their victories over the frIends of order and legitimate authority and mourning oer

1850] 1he Cuban Expedition 493

their defeat And hence these see in the attempts of the

pirate Lopez and his crew nothing but the practical application of their own deeply cherished principles

The fact th~t Lopez after his return to the UnitedSunes was greeted wllh loud and prolonged applause when he asshysured the citizens of Savannah that he had not abandoned his enterprise but had consecrated his -hole life to the liberation of Cuba indicates only too c1ear)yth~t these principles are by no means unpopular at least in certain sections of the country Indeed the number of those who if not ready to join actively in sllcl~ an expedition as Lopez and his associates fitted out yet hold that the Cubans have a perfect right ~nd we a perfect right to assist them to rebel agaiqst heir sovereign to revolushytionize the island apd with the consent of our government to annex themselves to the Union is much larger we fear than a good citizen who regards the lwnor of his country is willshy ~

ing to believe -- so little value is placed IIpon the rights of sovereignty and so little respect is paid even to the rights of property

C~rtainly e are far from asserting or insinuating that any considerable portion of our citizens are sufficiently depraved to join actively in a piratical attempt like that made by the recent Cuban expedition but such an attempt is not wholly incomshypatible with the political creed of perhaps a majority o( our

countrymen According to the plan of the conspirators the citizen~ orthis coontrywere to appear to the world only as the allies or auxiliaries of the people of Cuba It wasassum~d that there was or that there could be created a Re~ Repubshylican party among the Creole population of the island and it was thrOlgh these that possession of it was to be obtained The Cubans themselves were to appear before tne world as the prime movers of the enterprise and chief actOls in it They were to proclaim themselves a republic independent

of Spain and we were simply to e~list under their bannel and to aid them in aehiev jng their indep~nde~ce An1exation would it was supposed follow repubhcamsm and mdepenshydence as a matter of course This wa the plan and we Clin see nothing in it incpnsistent with the- doctrines advocated by the whole body of American demagogues and by nearly the whole AmericaI) newspaper press Once lay It down_ as nearly all our politicians of lare have been in the habit of nomg

f-that the people m~y rebel against the sover~ign autbrity of the 0

state when they Judge proper and thaturespectlve of premiddot

~

I

4V4 The Cuban Expedition lOct

CXlstll1g constitutions and law5 they are o~e~cign and the legitimate source of all ~ohtl(al power alld It IS ~lIIposslble for rOll to point out any thJllg wrong or censurable III the attelllpt io get posscssion of Cuba in the way p~orosed that i~ ~y reshybellion murdcr and robbery Accordlllg to these pnnclplcs the Crcoles of Cuba howeer few ill number or insigllificant in position who were diss~tisfied ith the Spanish go~ellllllent or ulleasy and merely de~lrous of a change Iwd a right t asshySUllie to he the people of Cuba III whom rcsts the nallonal soereignty and to organize themselres into a prorisional govshyernment ami speak and act in the name of the unirersal Cuban IJation If the) had this right 011 the same principles our citizens as nkln of them as chose had the right to treat them a~ the independ~nt and sorcreign people of Cubn and as sLlch to join with thcIII and assist them in eflecting their indepcnshydenee and eon~()lidnting their authority orer the whole island for according to he popular political creed of this country deshyInoerac) is the natic inherent right of eery people the only legitilnate forlll of goernnlent alld therefore the national sovershyciint) lI1ust alwayscs~ in the party struggling to maint~in or to establish democracy Either then we must say that Lopez and his crew are not censurable except for their imprudence alld ill-success or abandon our popular political creed If ie hold on as the mass of our politicians do and no doubt will for

some tillle to come to the principles of that creed it is only by a logical inconsequence that we can condemn the Cuban or any ex pedition of the sort

Bllt our politicians would do well to reflect that a people cannot hold and act on prillltiples hich wltj)uld justify such an expcdition without placing themselres out of the pale of civilshyized nations and authorizing the ciilized world to treat them as a nest of pirates and to make war on thelll as the common foe of mankind Especially must this be so when they avow ~lOd act on stich principles agaillst a power with which their goernlllent has treatie of peace and amity as our government has with Spain Vith such a people haringa popular form of gove~nment which must lIlthe long run to a great extent at ]eastYled to the popular wJlI however expressed no nation can hve III peace for they hold tlemsehes bound neither by the laws of nations nor by the faith of treaties Xo nation within reach of their influence can ever be safe from their lIla~hinations and erery one must be perpetually in danger of halng them stir up Us subjects to rebellion and through them

1 1850 ] The Cuban Expedition 495

to strip it of i~s territories and finally blot out its national eXistence Friendly relations with such a people are out of the question and the common interests qf nations and of soshyciety must ultimately league the whole civiliied world against I them to exterminate them or to be exterminated by them

Ve are too sincere a patriot and too loyal a citizen to be- lieve that the majority even of those vbo adhere to the~e false and detestable principles are aware ofJhe horrible consequences which legitimately flow from them It is but common candor to regard them as better than their principles and to presume I

I that in general they do not understand the real nature of the doctrines they profess and- indeed seem to glQry in professing - l~hey are no doubt greatly blinded by their passions and misled by their insane thirst of gold and territorial acquisition but mllch of their error originates in JlIisapprehension of the true nature of their own political institutions These institutions are republican indeed and repugnant to both lJIonarchy and politishy

cal aristocracy but tbey are not democratic either in the ancient or the modern sense of that term Anciently as in i

A th~ns where the word originated democracy meant a gov ernment possessed and administered by the common people in

1

distinction from the Ellpa~rids or nobles in modern times it J

means the absolute and underied sovereignty of the people or the native and inherent right of the multitude to do whatever I

i

they please and is necessarily resolvable into anarchy or the middot1

despotism of the mob Our institutions are democratic in neither Iof tliese senses not in the former for they r~cognize no politishycal distinctioll of cOlllmon people and Eupatrids tords and commons not in the latter for they recognize no political power in the people save as constitutionally defined and exershycised in virtue of and accordance with legal forms and they make it high treason to reblel against the state or to levy war against itsmiddotsomiddotereign authority Under our political system the pedJple are the motive force but not the gp)erning pdwer and are theoretically neither the government nor the source of its rights The constitution and laws are above them Suffrage is not with us a nlural right an incident o~ ones manhood but a public trust conferred by law ald capable of being ex- l

i jtended or contracted by municipal regulation But American politicians generally not of one party only r

for in this respect Vhigs and Democrats do middotnot essentl3l1y differ have of late years overlooked thiS Important fact and corrupted by French Tacobins and l~nglish and Scotch radishy

The Cuban Expedition [Oct496

cals hlc sought to gie to our institutions a democratic intershypretatioll ill the modern sense of the word TIley cease to hold the laws sacred and the cOllstitution iJliolaLle ~nd nothshying is fnr tlicm sacred or obligatory butthe arbitrary and rrcshysponsiule will or the multitude Accordlllg to them the Will of the people oerrides constitutions and laws and is the only aushythority to be consulted by the statesman and the) are wellshynigh prepared to say by the moralist and the dIVIne He must be an obtuse dinlectician indeed who fails to perceie when his attention is called to the point that it is a necessary corollary from a democracy of this sort that the people or any number of persons calling tJemselns the people hae the right 10 rebel against the state when they choose and change its constitution as they plelse This doctrine of course strikes at all legality all legitimacy abrogates all law municipal or illtemutiollal renders loyalty all unmeaning word aud leaes the people theoretically at least in a state of pure anarchy anti lawlessness It denies nil gOermnent by denying to gorshyernment all sacredness and iniolability and Icares us free to follow our own instincts passions lusts and supposed interests without regard to municipal law the laws of nations or the obshylirations of treaties Our error lies in our adhesion to the funshydilllcntal principles _of this false democracy a democracy of foreign not or natie growth and as anti-American as it is

anti-national and ami-social It is the prealence of this false tlelllocracy amongst us that has in sOllie measure ulinded us alld rendered the lllass of our people apathetic to the reprehensiule character of the recent cOtlduct of a portion of our citizens towards Spain )lexico anq een Great Britain It of course will Le easy for our demagogues and our radshyIclI press to ju)) us hard names for these remarks to denounce us as the euemy of free institutions and the friend of tyrants and aristocrats and to drown the oiceof truth and justice py senseless shouts of Popular Sovereignty The Hights of )fan Liberty Equality Fraternity or other F bull Jiar watchwords wlllch have comulsed the nations of the Old Vorld consecrated rebellion and instituted the worship of

the dagger but it will nerertheless remain still true that a la~ge portion of the Ameri~an people hae lost sight of the prl~lclples of their own lllslllutlOns and embraced principles which theycannot avow and act on without deserving to be placed olltslde of the pale of civilized nations and which if continued to be held and acted on must in the end sink us to ~he

1850 ] The Cuban Erpedition 497bull leel of the AsiatiC ~ralay~ THre is no ~Jscin slleking to de celve ourselves 1 here IS a Spirit abroad among us working i~ the very heart of ou~ population that~ unles~ slleedily exort clsea must ultimately If our power contmues to increase at ill I

present ratio make us the deadliest foe of Christian civilization that h~s arisen since A nila the Hl1l and the early Saracenic and Turkish successors of the Arabian impostor bull

It cannot be denied and s~ould not be disguised that we are fast adopting the principles and following in the footsteps of the old French lacobins Ve are preparing to enter ~nd wouId that we Gould say we have not entered upon a career of J acobinical propagandism and territ6rial acquisition Other nations see tbis and therefore s~e in us the future disturbers of the peace of the world Hence while they admire our inshydustrial activity our enterprise and energy in the material orshyder they detest our principles and hold our national character in loi esteem It is idle for usto cherish the delusion that the estimation in which the nations of the Old World hold us is owing to onr republicanism and free inst~lutiOjls It is no such thing It is because they see in us asa nation no loyalty no high moral aims no lony principles of religion anil virtue but a low grOelling attachment to the world the deification of material interests and the wolmiddotship of tbe aljllJightydollar I t is because they see us becoming democratic propagaqdists and sympathizers with the rebels against legitimate authority the Jleace and order of society herev~r we find them and ready to decree an ovation to every popllar miscreant who after having lighted the Barnes of rebeltion and civil ~var in his own country Bies hither to save his neck from the halter it so richly merits It is b1cause we respect not the rights of sovshyereignty the independence of nations or the faith of treaties and have proved ourselves capable of stirring up theeitizens of a state with which we are at peace to a rebellipn against its sOereign ailthority (or the sake of stripping it thlOugh them of a portion of its territory and incorporating it into the Union

Unhappily for our reputation the recent military expediljon against Cuba is not an isolated fact or a~ anomaly in 6ur-bief national history It stands connecte~ with our acV of robbmg 11exico of Texas and anrrexing it to the Union Texas was a Mexican province chiefly settled by American emigrants whoshybysettlillg it became JJexican citiz~ns and subje~ts These Americo-Mexicans in concert with our citifens and it is said with p~rsons in high official station tmd~r our government re-

NEW SERIES - VOL IV NO bull IV 63

~

~

498 The Cuban Erpedilion (Oct

belled against the Iexican authorities and hy means of volun~ teers money arms and munitions of war from the Stat~5 sucshyceedep in achieving independence As soon as thiS was achieved or assumed to be achicnd the Hepublic of Texas applied to our gOernment for admission into the American confederacy Her application was indeed rejected by Mr Van Buren who was then President of the V nited States and whose manaement of our foreign relations little as we esteem that gentlenan we are bound to say were creditable to him-shyself and to his country but it was renewed and accepted under his successor and in 181) Texas became one of the United States and sent as Olle of her representatives in the American ~cllate the ery lJ)an who is said to hae concerted with Pres idcnt Jackson and others the robbery and who certainly was the chief to whom its execution was intrusted Here was a great nation~1 crime not yet expiated and here was set a preshycedent not a little hostile to the nations that have territory conshytiguous to ours

Ve acknowledge personally with shame and regret that though opposed to the revolt of Texas from Mexico and to the aid which she receied from this country by the connivance of the goernment we were after her independence was an acshy

knoleclged fact among those who for certain political reashysons of less weight than we were led to beliee advocated her annexation to the Union It is true we repudiated the prinshyciples on which she and our countrymen defended her conduct and we sought to make out a case of legality in her favor blt neertheless we were wrong and are heartily sorry for what we did and our only consolation is that we were too insinifishycant to hae had any influence on the result one way o~ the other But be this as it may the recent expeditions for revoshylutionizing and annexing Cuba are historically connected with this great national crime Xo sooner had Texas been annexed than the rage for annexation seemed to have become universal jIr Yulee the Jew-Senator from Florida immediately brought forward in the Senate a proposition for the acquisition of Cuba Ir Dallas Vice-President of the United States in the same year 1845 gave at a public dinner the annexation of Cuba as a toast and in 1847 wrote a Jetter in favor of the appropriashytion of that island as essential to his plans for the aggrandizeshyment of the Vnion Early in 1845 the pres~ began to a~voshycate the annexation of CaIJforma another province of MeXICO and it should be remembered that Colonel Fremont an officer

r

bull

I

1850J The Cuban Expedition 499

of the United State~ army before he had learn~dtbat warexisl ed betwen us and the Mexican republic actually by the ail of AmerICan residents got up a revolution in that province an~ declared it ind~pendent of the Mexican authorities Here the game of Texas was begun to be played over again and it is not insignificant that this same Colonel Fremont is sent to represhysent California in the Federal Senate now that she is admitted as a State into the Vniol) There can be no reasonable doubt that both California and New Mexico would have been annexed to the V nion Ii La Texas if the war with the Mexican repubshylic had not given us an opportunity of acquiring them in a more

honorable manner that is openly by the sword It was as the papers said manifest destiny and it is a prevailingbe- lief among our politicians tlIat the annexation of the whole of 1Iexico and even of Central America is only a question of

I time The fever of annexation broke out ev~ On our northern ~ t frontier and if Great Britain had noiappeared ~o us to be a ~

j more formidable power than Spain or Mexico the Cana~ian Annexationists and Red Republicans would have recehed all

j l the aid they needed to sever their connection wit~ the British empire and to become incorporated with the Vnited States Ashy

~ I war with Great Britain was not deemed prudent for ~he mo~

menh and the annexation of Canada is for the present postshy1

1 J poned Pirate does not fight pirate or even man-of-war if

the encounter can be avoided Now in judging the bearing on our natiohal character of the

recent expedition of our citizens against Cuba which it is wellj known both our people and our government are extremely aflxious to possess these facts must be taken into the account and they show that it is not an isolated act but one of a series of acts or like charactel and of acts too which have received at least in the case of Texas even the sanction ofthe FedshyJral government Vhat our citizens had done in th~ case of Texas and California what was to prevent them from doing in the case of Cuba and if the government connived at their conduct and finally sanctioned it in the instance of fraudulently

ri

appropriating a province Sf Mexico why ~huld it notdo tlie same in the instance of frapdulentlyapproprlatmg ~ provm~eof Spain Viewed in the light of our previous conduct the exshypedition to Cuba ceases to be merely the act of the adventurer Lopez and a few nameless and lawless individuals the spawn of Xew York and New Orleans Vashington and Cincinnati who were induced to engage in it and becomes in some sorl

i ~~ ~

500 The Cuban Erped ilion [oct

an act for which the A llIerican people thelllseires are responsishyble and other nations at least will alld hare the right to so rr~~rd it The proposed Cuban repuhlic provisionally orshyga71ized had its juntas c1uos or agents in our principal cities the forces raised were chiefly our own citizens under oflicers

had sened under our flag in ~Icxico the regiments were lHlIllbered and named after indiidual States as if they llOld been 1-nited States troops and the papers - no bad illd~x to pulJlic sentiment - in announcing the killed and wounded in the attack on Cardenas used the very terms they would have llsed if they had in fact been so Jt is not unfair then to assuine that the people of this country did to a great extent acshytually sympathize ith that expedition thilt they wele so degtiroos of tlcquiring Cllba and 0 indillerent as to the meallS that their moral Scn5e took 110 alarm at aC4Juiring it in the manshyner we had acquired Texas and that if they regarded the proshy

as somewhat irreglllar they yet ere extremely npshyathetic to their moml turpitude If as no doubt was the fact they were for the most J)art unprepared to take any very active part in furthering the nefarious prcceedings it is clear that they were not unwilling that they should go 011 and succeed The expedition ifsuccessful would ghe tiS Cuba the key to the Gulf of Iexico open to us the final annexation of all the Vest lndies liberate Cuba from the dark despotism of Spain per- haps from the darker despotism of Home and introduce the oppressed Creoles to the advantages of our free institutions of our Bible societies and sectarinn religion and enrich us with the spoils of its churches and religious houses supposed (0 be immensely rich So the end would justify the means If such had not Leen the public sentiment of our people especially in our principal cities and in the South and outhwest the conshyspirators could never hae carried on their operations within the jlrisdictiol1 of the United States in the public rn~nner tbey did they would have been denounced to the pubbc authorishyties ~n ample eridence would have been forthcoming for their conVictIon

Xo doubt there was a large body of our citizens passive in regard to nearly all public matters that had never heard of Lopez or the attempt to organize an expedition against Cuba llay who have not yet heard any thing of einer no doubt there was a respectable number of enlightened and moral citishyzen~ who wer from the first indignant at the very thought of settmg ltn foot such an expedition within our jurisdiction and

J ~ ~ J

I1850] 1he Cuban Rxptdilion 501

I I

no oubt again that ~ arge majority of our pepple now th ~

sul~Ject IS brought dlStlllCtiy beforc them ahd itf enormitt -

po lilted out are rrepared to repudiate it but it is stilI und niablethat the ~umors of the ttempt to organize suchan ex- peclition did not alarm the public mind and the news of its embarking was received rather with approbation than horror The iniquity of the proceeding did not strike the IllaSS ohlle le~ple till ~fte Ie sobe~ second tll0ught induced by its rldl~ulous fadUle I he feelIngs and Wishes the sympathies of that whole body of citizens who usually give tone to our com mUI1jty~ alld determine tfie action and policy of the American people were decidedly with Lope and bis piratical associates l~ot in the least with the friendly power about to be so grievshy(msly wronged This portion of our citizens whose dominant sentiment ordinarily represents that of the country for ordinarishy ~

ly the less not tile more worthy public sentiment predominates saw nothing morally rong in the nefarious proceeding nothing illdeed but the somewhat bold application of their own princi- pl~s It is this undeniable fact that authorizes us to say that the Cuban expedition met the popular sYIPpalhy and that the A merican people as a b9dy are to no incon~derable extent imshyplicated in its guilt if not actively at least passively It is

this fuct again which gives to tllat expedition its chief -imshyportalcemiddot

Even among those who opposed the proceedings in this L_

case as in that of Texas comparatively few opposed them pri- bull malily and chiefly on the ground of their Injusticfl to Spain of their being a violation of the laws of nations the faith of treaties th~ rights of sOereignty and the rights of property 1hey opposed the expedition for the same reasons that the SOllth and Southwest favored it because it was supposed that the acquisition of Cuba would strengthen the cause of negro slavery al1d retard or wholly hinder its final emancipation

j

They reasoned that it must not be encouraged because it was Ilot an Abolition or a Free Soil measure The question therefore was discussed as far as discussed at an after the manner of the English and American mind on a collateral issue not on its intrinsiq merits This of itself shows that the essentia) principle involved hi ir as a moral and international question was not regarded even by not a few of the oponents of the expedition as grossly immoni an~ that eve~ with them

the rights of Spain the laws of n~tl~)I)S and t~e faIt~ of treashyties in tbem~elves considered comted for htt1t and were

~

-

5011850 ] bull The Cuban Expedition602 Tile Cuban Expedition [Oct

violable peace and sincere friendship between the t~middoto go~rnshya certain portion of our own citizens The contrOers as far worth urging only when favorable to the views and purposes of

IllellS and their respective citizens and subject~ without ef it went Qn was confined _to a purely local and domestIc ]uesshy ceptlon of persons or places Under thiS and other chiuses if tion and became only a branch of the general controersy the same treaty qle U nited ~tates wcre bou~d to use all neceshywhich has been for some time raging between the ~orthern and sary force t repress and pumsb allacts h~st~l~ to Sp~it anr Southern sections of the Union It is this fact again which of her provlOces or colomes committed Wl1hlO their JUriSdICtiOn has deceived so many otherwise ell-di~posed citizens If the The treaty we need not say is the supreme law of the land and indepelldence and annexation of Texas bad been discussed on as binding on the citizen as on tlie government itself The its merits not in its relation to negro slavery a maHer of citizens of a state cannot be legally at war with a power with great indifference to many of us there was still moral soundness which their government is at peace and theh hostile acts are enough in the American people we doubt lot to have saved its ~cts if it neglect to use all its power if needed to prevent or us from the great national and international crime we commitshy chastIse them for the -government under the laws of nations I

ted and if the independence and annexation of Cuba could cen in tpe absence of treatystiplllations is responible to ~_ hae been presented to the American people in its true light eign powers for the acts of all persons within its jurisdictio bull free from all connection with the same subject we owe it to Undoubtedly it is excused (rom all h6stile intention if it doe our countrymen to say that we hac no doubt that a majority all in its power to prevent hostile acts on the part of its subjects of them would hae repudiated the proposition with indignashy or persons within its jurisdiction or if failing wholly to pre- tion But the fact that it was not so presented and discussed vent it is prompt to put forth its whole power to repress them was their own fault and they must be held responsible for its and bring the offenders to justice for no government can at all consequences times and under all circumstances aontrol the entire conduct of

Thus far we have considered the Cuban expedition in its e~ery person within its jurisdictioh But with this reserve relation to t~e political principles and popular sentimellts of the under the law of nationS the government is responsible for the American people as distinguished from the American govern- conduct of all persons within its jurisdiction and especially

ment but it is necessary to go farther and consider the disposhy when the law of nations is defined and so to speak intensified

sitions and acts of the government in regard to it The conshy hy e~press treaty obligations Our government was then bound duct of the American people outside of the government or to ~xert all its vigilance and power if needed t~ prevent the rather of the actie minority by which they are usually represhy beginning or setting on foot within its jurisdiction and ~uclt sented if not as bad as appearances indicate is still gravcly more the embarking of the military expedition against Cuba~ reprehensible and extremely mortifying to all who are alive to This was clearly its duty and any thing short of this was short the honor of their country But notwithstanding this the gO shy of what Spain had the undoubted right to expect and to re9uire ernment itself may have had honorable intentions and been at its hands It owed it also to Spain and to its Own majesty

ireally in earnest to discharge its obligations towards Spain with I to execute the full rigor of its own municipal law against tbe whom it has treaties of peace and fricndship Is such the persons implicated io that expedition ~ i fact Has it all along acted in good faith Has it failed to But our government owing to th~ fact of its having connived iperform its duty through incapacity or has it aimed to do no at the rebellion of Texas of its having against t~e protest of more than necesslry to save appearances and to avoid an open Mexico incorporated that province into the Union and of its rupture with Spain baving gone to war with Mexico and still further dismembered

V~wish to speak of the goernment with t~e loyal respect her because she would not peaceably submit to be robbed of ~laquor t~e citizen always owes to the supreme pohucal authority of territory h~d given Spain ample reason to distt~st its professhy~IS c~llntry and we do not allow oursehes rashly to judge its sions ~xcept so far as backed by deeds and to regard It as ea lntcntlons ft was bound to peace relatioRS with Spain by pable of repeating its previous dishonorable and ltrri~inal conshy

expres~ treaty flade i~ 1795 and subsequently confirmed the nivance atrebeJlion murder and ropbery All the world kriev firlst arucle of whIch stipulates that there shall be firm and in- that Texas had been wrested from Mexico by American citishy

t~ l C

rIOt The Cuan Expedition [Oct

zens or persons withi our jurisdiction withoul opposition fO~l our Ocrnlllent and It was bv no llleallS Inprobublc a pnull that ~hat it had consented to ee dOlle in the case of Texas it

be willing to hae done in the case of Cuba seen in our relutions with ~rexico the manner in which we were capable of interpretng our treaties of peace and arnity with forshyeign powers and rmght reasonably suspect us of bemg no further opposed to the Cuban expedition tban was necessary to save appearances This IIndoubtedly was the jew taken by the movers and friends of the expedition otherwise we call hardly suppose they would hae dared knowing as they mllst lIae known the strin~ent nature of our laws to commit the acts they did within the ~Federal jurisdiction Our government if it acted really in good f1ith was therefore bOllnd at least for its own sake to more than

or suppressing the enterprise and paton aiders and abettors to justice

Ve doubt not the honest intentions of the goernment but we must say thot so fal from exerting this extraordinary igishylince or actiit it has undeniably failed in the full and prompt discharge of its duty both to Spain and to its own character Ve are forced to this conclusion by a series of facts and conshysiderations which seem to us to leae no room for dOllbt The gOernment can be said to hae done its duty only on the supshy

that it could not detect the proceedings of the conspirshyators or that it lacked power to arrest them or was unable to nrocure the evidence necessar to

Xo one of these slIpposittons is admissihle least of all 1fJe secund for the government itself would not thank the friends wlJo should undertake to defend it on the ground of its inability to fulfil its treaty obligations and to execute its own laws Such a line of defence the gOernment would be prompt to repudiate as it ould place it in the most humiliating light before the nations of the world and authorize them to refuse to enter into any treaty stipulations ith it The proposition to acquir~ Cuba by meltlns of revolutionizing It was before the country and discussed in the public journals Every body knew or might hae known that as far back It least as UH8 there was a movement concerted citizens to be efficiently supported by us going on in Cuba and SOllle of our cities to get up a republican revolution in Cuba an~ that this reyolution was intended to result in its indepenshydence and ultimate annexation to the Union Of all this the

1850] The Cuban Expedition 50t

government could not hae been uninformed It was equally well k~own that the movelil~nt in certain ~ections ~f the Uniol met WIth great favor that It accorded WIth the wlshes of th~ c~~ntry a~nd even of the government so far as the simple acqukshyslUon of Cuba was concerned and throughout with the popullr democratic creed of the great body of our politicians and of our newsp~per press gen~rally H~re ~as enough to place a loyal and competent government on Its guard and induce it to take active and efficient measures to preserve the peace relations beshytween us and Spain and to prevent its treaty obligations with that government from being violated by persons within its jurisshydiction Unhappily it did nothing of the sortmiddot Public men men high in social and even offlcial station were advocating tbe acquisition of Cuba the press especially at the Southwest was busy manufacturing public opinion for the country and urging the violation of the rights of property the lav of nashytions and the faith of treaties and the government vas silent and inll-ctive its organs were dumb and it did and said nothing to give its deluded subjects any reaSOn to believe tbat it would be more disposed tp execute its laws against a Cuban than it had been against a Texan mBitary expedition Had the govshyernment been ntally loyal really disposed to respect the rights of Spain and to fulfil its duties towards ber it may be asked why it did not exert itself in the beginning to correct the false opinion that the citizens of tbis country have a right to engage in a project for revolutionizinga province ()r colony of a friendly power and of wresting it from its lawful sovereign as well as the grave error that they cbuld do qll this without implicating the government ill their guilt At any rate would jt neit since its past delinquency had made it necessary have assured its misguidedmiddot subjects in the outset that it would not suffer therr to make the attempt with impunity Yet it took no notice of whilt was going on and suffered the false opinion to spread till it became a power all but impossibleto be controlled

It is true that the military expeditionfitted out in 1849w~ prevented from lembarking by the intervention of the governshyment But its destination was no secret and the adventurers were set at liberty without even the form of a trial permitted to retain their arms and ammunition and suffered to dispel$~ themselves Oer the Union without receivi~g the punishment or any portion of the punishment whicb our law~ annex to the high misdemeanour of which they were unquestIonably gUIlty Why was not the full rigor of tbe law executed against them

NEW SERIES - OL IV NO IV 64

The Cuban Erpcdilion [Oct50G

lInd it brcn others would have been deterred from engaging in ~iJlljar cx peditions The cry fltlct tlJ3t they were let 011 i thout beill punisher was well calc ulnted to produce the (onshyliction Illlro~lllded we are willillg to bclien thal the governshymellt itself was ltIt heart not ill disp03ed to their enterprise and Ilouid do no more to precllt its execution than was strictly necessarv to aoid an open rupture with Spain It is idle to pretend that no sumrient proof could be obtaiJl~d to convict them Proof enollgb -could have been obtamed If the governshyment had rcallr wanled it and earnestly sought for it fot the rca character and objecls Of the expedition were well known were mntters of public IlQtoriet y und it is not likely that they were illcapable of Leillg juridically established

As -us to be expected the impunity extended to the milishyexpedition of 1849 sened only to encoumge another

had failed in consequence of appoilltin~ its rendezvous ithinthe jurisdiction of the Cnited ttates The new expedishytion IJad only to Hoid that error by assembling at some point without that jurisdiction from such point or points it could emshybark for its piraticlL attack onCuba free from the apprehension of being illterrupted by the ofiicers of the ellion It accord-

adopted that precaution ltlnd as is well known with comshysuccess If it failed in its ulterior objects it as owing

not to the igiJance or the actilily of our government but to the precautions taken by the Spanish authorities and the unexshypected loyalty of the Cuban population The Cuban demoshycrats appear to hare been froUl home and the Red Republican demonstration proved a complete failure to the no small hOllor of our Creole neighbours

Tlie goernme~t could not have been ignorant of the attempt to set 011 foot this new expedition within its jurisdiction 110 sooner had it dismissed the adventurers from Round Island than military preparations were recommenced in ~ew York Boston and especially Xew Orleans- men were enlisted drilled in tbe use of arms and despatched to Chagres or other points out of the r nion and all in the most public manner The adshyenturers hardly attempted to conceal their destination and osshytentatiously displa)ed the cockade and colors of the proposed Cuban republic The publishers of the oiVew York Sun hoisted on their office the new flag oC Cuba and openly enshygaged in acts hostile to ~pain The advertisements and procshyI~m~uons o~ the revolutIOnary Junta were inserted in the pubshylic Journals and bonds made payable on the reenues of the

I

1850] The Cuban Expedition 507j 1

t

island of ~~ba were ssued to procure money for raising troops and exerclsmg them In the use of armS The conspirators catshyrjed t~IIir effrontery so far as to insert in the public journals Ff Vashmgton under the ery n9se of the government an advetshyt~scmenl announcing the ~o~mati~n of a perllanent junta des tmed to promote the POllitC(ll wierests of Cuba that I is to revolutionize the island These actg done openly before all th1world of a nature easily traceable to their perpetrators could not have been unknown to the governmellt unless it chose to remain ignorant of them The Spanish Minister as

~ earJy as the 19th of January of this year called the attention l of the government to t~rn The Secretary Mr Clayton isshy

sued indeed a feeble and indolent circular on the 22d of the same month to the District Attorneys of Washington New York and New Orleans enjoining upon them to observe what shollid be passing in their respective districts but with no apshyparent result These attorneys excused themselves from prosshyecuting the offenders on the pretence that an overt act was necessary to justify the commencement of proceedings against v them - a pretence as creditable to their legal attainments as to their loyalty The law declares That if any person shall within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States

~

begin or set on foot or provide or prepare the meins- for

t ~

t

any military expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominions of any foreign prince

or state or of any colony district or people with who~n the U niled States are at peace every person so offending shall

j be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour and shall be fined not exceeding three thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than

j hree years The journals by publishing the advertisements I ~ and proltlamations of the conspirators as we)) as the conspirashy4 tors th~mselves were guilty under this law and liable to its

penalties for the law makes the very beginning or attempt to get up such expedition orenterprise ahigh misdemeanour as these district attorneys if lawyers must have known perfectly I well The district attorneys were probably not unfavorable

I amp

to the expedition and had no wish to int~rfere lvith it any furshy~] ther than they could help and the Secretary of State though

well disposed himself probably did not judge it necessary to insist with energy 011 their performance of their official duties The crimes had been committed in their districts and itwas

bull Statutes of the United Stat~ Hils chap 88 sec 6

1 j 1

50S The Cuban Expedition [Oct

their dulv to hme prosecuted the offenders and nobody can really bd so simple as to beliee th~t they ~o~ld not bae obshytailled the requislle endence for their cOllnctIO)) if they had sought it But the gmernment ougllt to be responsible for thclr neglect for they were its ~gellts

The conspirators contmued their operntlOns without the gmernments taking any efficient measures to arrest them On the 8th of Iav the Spanish Jjnister 1 Calderon de la Barca writes to the Secretary again and from this date contillllCs in frequent communications to furnish him with prccis~ inforshymation and detailed proofs of the movements of the conSpirators till the final departure of the expedition from the United States Yet till its final departure nothing could excite the Secretary to activity but thenafwr the expedition had sailed and there was no probability of being able to intercept it before it should effect a landing on the island he despatched a vessel of war to the port Qf Hanna where there was no danger and where

could be no expectation of encountering the pirates Wilh orders to obserre the motions of essels approaching that port in order to ascertain if there had been commenced nny military expedition or enterprise to be directed from the United States against the territory or the dominions of Spain

This order strikes us as being little better than a mockery fo despatch a esse of war on a cruise of observation to ascershy

tain a well-known fact - a fact already with detailed proofs beshy fore the government was to say the least wholly unnecesshy

sary and calculated only to throw doubts on the good faith of tile government Then the fact that it was despatched only after the piratical expedition had embarked when it was too late to intercept it and to the port of Havana the best guarded and least exposed port of the island and where nobody expected the pirates would attempt to effect their landing could only inshydicate either the ex treme inefficiency of the government or its good-will to the pirates and wish not to interfere with their sport of murder and robbery The fact of the non-interference of the goveroment till the last moment and its inefficient intershyference even then are well calculated to throw doubts on its good faith and to create a painful suspicion which however we repudiate that it was willing to connive at the expedition - at least so far as to give it a fair chance of succeeding if it could At any rate the facts we han~ detailed prove a culpable failure of tl~e late adm~nistration ill thedischarge of its duty to Spain and In the executIOn of the laws of the Union and if Mr Clayshy

1850] The C1fban Expedition 5lt6 ton thought to obtain credit with honorable men for his vigilance and promptnes~ he made a mistake t

We cannot but remark that Mr SecretaryC]aytons ]a shyguage is far more energetip when he has some pretence ~r asserting that ~pain ~as infringed or is l~kely to infringe tile f1glts of Amerl~an cluzens~ He hadrema~n~d nearly apathetic ~llIle th~ conspirators wer~ at work In fittIn~ OU their expedishytIOn agamst Cuba and nothing cou14 mduce hun to take efficient measures to arrest them Our treaty obligations with Spain and our own laws were violated in open day and he could at ~ost only ~e induced to issue som~ indolent and tardy order to hiS subordmates to make observatIOns But when Spain oot exactly within her jurisdiction but on a desert island close to her shores takes a portion of the military expedition prisoners he is incited to an unwonted degree of energy The boot is on the other leg now and he writes - we translate from the Courier des Etats- Unis not having the original despatch before us - to Mr Campbell our Consul at Havana - If the facts H

relative to their capture are as reported the President is reshysolved that the eagle shall protect them from all punishment except such as may he inflicted on them by the tribunals of their own country Tell the Count of Alcoy to send them back to the United States where they will find a punishment worse than any th~t he can inflict on them if theyare hQnora- hIe men in the reprobation they will meet from all rightmiDded persons for having made an attempt against the good faith of a nation that prefers its reputation for integrity to all the AotiUell together This is in some respects no less amusing than grandiloquent The supposition that men enlist~d in a pirati- cal expedition are honorable men is somewhat comical and the suggestion that they would meet a heavier punishment for their crimes in the public opinion of their own country Ihan any the Count of Alcoy could inflict on them when that public opinion was in favor of their enterprise and so s~rongly in favor 0

of it thaI the Secretary himself wellnigh lacked the courage j

to brave it is original and shows that the late Secretary of State has one of the qualities if not of a statesman at least of a poet Then the flourish about the high estimation in which we hold our national reputation fqr integritgt would be worth more if we had or even deserved t11a reputation We bartered that reputation for Texas for Calirornia an ~ew exico and might easily be supposed capable of baItermg It agam for Cuba and Jorto Rico The frail one should npt challenge admirashytiun for her virtue

510 The Cuban Expedition [Oct

The prisoners taken on he islands of Las Mugeres and Conshytoy were and it is well known that they were a portion of the Lopez expedition and had left the United States on a enterprise acainst the dominions of Spain They were IJlrates and under ~ur treaty with Spain and the laws of natiolls they were punishable as pirates Spain had been invaded her tershyritory had been violated by ollr citizens her subjects murdered her treasury plundered her public buildings burned and the gOernor of one of hertowns Illade prisoner she was thle~tshyelled with still further imasion from the same quarter and wllh all the horrors of war She had under these circumstances the right to protect herself by taking and hanging eery indishyvidual she found engaged in the piratical expedition against her

These Contoy prisoners as they are called were the comrades of those who had iJJaded her soil they shared in their guilt and were irtually pirates and as such could not claim the protection of our government To any demand of ours to Spain to give them up it was sufficient for her to allege this fact and that she had taken them in the right of self-defence and should treat them according to the law of nations

Our government could demand the release of these prisoners only on the ground that there was no sllfficient evidence to connect them with the piratical expedition against Cuba but of that fact Spain was a competent judge and she had

to bring them to trial and if convicted by her own trishybunals under the laws of nations of being a part of that expedition she had the undoubted right to sentence and punish them witbout our haing the least right to remonstrate There was really nothing in the conduct of Spain with reshygard to the capture detention and trial of these prisoners of which we hae the least right to complain Spain was not obliged to wait till the pirates had actually set foot on her soil a nd struck the first blow before her right to arrest and punish them commenced It was enough that their intention to inshyvade her soil was manifest and it was clear that they had emshybarked for that purpose These Contoy prisoners were taken under arms near her territories on desert islands the usual resortf the ad~enturers U~doubtedly theyhad not yet acshytually IIlladed Cuba but the Circumstances onder which they were f~und lurking there sufficiently indicated their purpose and pOlllted them out as a pal1 of the expedition which had landed committed its depredations and retreated to Key West

f~

shy

bull1 i ~

middotc

~

1 i -~

-~ 1 11

~gt1middot

f 4 ~il~

1850] The Cuban Expedition SI1

withn the jurisdiction of he Union They Dight be there wanmg the return of their comrades with relqforcemmts L renew tleir piratical attackslnd no one can be so ignoralt of the TIghts of fpalll as to suppose that she was bound II respect their hiding-place till they had acquired sufficient force to commence the actual murder of her subjects and the sack and destruction of her tons She had the right to make them prisoners and if she had the right to make them prisoners the right to retin them 3 reasonable time for investigating their case and of ascertaining their guilt or innocence She did only this and considerillg the inefficiency our government had disshyplayed in protecting her-from the piratical attacks of our own citizens and that the expedition intended to operate against her

our territory had been defeated by her own exertions without any efficient aid or act of ours she had far more right to deem herself aggrieved by our peremptory dell1and for the ~

delivery of the prisoners than we to complain of her for deshytailling and subjecting them or proposing to subject them to a tli(l) before her own tribunals shy

Ve are quite sure that if the case had been reversed we should have ghmiddoten a brief answer to a like demand from the Spanish government How in fact did we reason when General Jackson marched with his troops into Florida then a Spanish province and took military possession of its capital beshy

cause the Spanish governor could not or would not restrain the Seminole Indians as bound by treaty fr~m making predatory incursioris into the territory of the Union If the tables had been turned and the military ex pedition had been intended to operate from Cuba against us and tbe Spanish authorities had been as remiss and inefficient in rreventing or repressing it as f1 ours has been the whole force 0 the Union vould have been put in requisition if needed to lay all Cuba in ashes and if we had detected armed adventurers from her ports lurking near our coast watching a favorable opportunity to make a descent we sholild h3e taken themprisoners and with the briefest trial possible hung them up everyone of them as pirates Of this no man who knows our character and our sllmmary manner of dealing with those who violate our rights can reasonably douQt It would be we)) to remember that the obligations of the treaty betweeQ liS and Spain are reciprocal- that they do not bind her and leave us free as one is tempted to think is our intershypretation of them but bind us as well as her arid what would be right in our case is equally right in hers

fill TAe Cuban Expeditiun [Oct

The journals have beeD filled with loud complaints of the cruelly with ~hieh the S~anish authrities treated ~he Cntoy prisoners 11IIe they detamed thm In custody 1 IJere IS not a word of truth in these complamts as the good plIght of the prisoners when landed in the United States amply proves They were we)) treated and no unusual or unnecessary severishyty was exercised against them - no further severity than of guarding against their escape and their intercourse with their sympathizers or accomplices We are we)) aware that the mass of the American people believing all the falsehoods and reta ining all the prejudices of their ancestors current in the days of Queen Elizabeth are prepared to credit any absurd tale of Spanish cruelty that any idle vagabond chooses to invent but this much is to be said of our countrymen that tbey are probshyably unrivalled in the facility of belieing every thing - except the truth No people can surpass them in their ability to beshylieve falsehood without evidence or to reject truth though supshyported by evidence complete and irrefragable It is one of their titles to the admiration of the philosophers of the nineshyteenth century

Ve are not the apologists of Spain but we may say this much for her that no nation has been more maligned and no national character more vilely traduced than the Spanish There is no nobler blood in Europe than the brave old Casshy

tilian and a more elevated or virtuous peasantry than the Spanish is not to be found in the whole world Time was and not long since when Spain was the freest middotcountry in Europe worthy even of all admiration for her noble political institutions Sbe was at ncgt distant date the ruling European nation surpassing in grandeur and power all that Great Britain now claims to be Domestic dissensions fomented by foreign influences foreign and civil wars French invasion French philosophism English protection radicilism rebellion revolushytion and the terrible struggle for her very national existence against the colossal power of Napoleon in the zenith of his pride and his strength have for the moment reduced her from her former relative position among European nations and induced many in both hemispheres to forget the gratitude that is due her for her eminent services and eminent sacrifices to the cause of religion and European and American civilization but she is still a living and a noble nation with a recup~rative energy in her popllJatio~ to ~e foun~ in no other population in Europe and lowly as she lIes at thIS moment to the eye of the supershy

~

)

r

Imiddot

1850 ] The Cuban Expedition ~l

ficial spectator she has in her aU the elements of her for~er

greatness arid before her a long and glorious future She lit a believing heart a loyal soul and an inbred reverence for

religion and morality The spoilers work is wellnigh finishecl and t~ infidel and sacrilegious revolutionary storm has wellnigh spent Us fury and the day draweth nigh for her to put off het garments of sorrow and to put onmiddot her robes of joy and gladshyness She has had no doubt her faults and wJll have them again but as to her cruelty it is mildness itselfin comparison with the tender mercies of the renowned Anglo-Saxon who after twelve hundred years of culture seems still to cherish in his heart the habits and iastes of his piratical ancestors

Bilt our failure in the discharge If our duty to Spain extends middotfarther than we have stated Cuba in cpnsequence of our reshymissness and inefficiency is still in middotdanger of piratical attacks from our citizen~ or at least of their attempts in concert with disaffected Cllbans to get up a democratic revolution in the island and involve it in the horrors of civil warbull Spain has been put to great trouble and expense in defending that island from our machinations which it was our duty to have spared her and she is obliged to continue her armamentand defences on the war footing and that to defend her province from the hostile invasions of the subjects of a government which proshyfesses to be at peace with her This is not an endurab~e state

of things Does it comport with our hOlor as a nation to sufshyfer it to continue Have ve not the will and the power to restrain our lawless dtizens and to compel them to respect themiddot rights and the property of a friendly power Are we reduced either to the moral gtr physical necessity of compening nations with whom we have treaties of peace and amity t~ arm themshyselves to the teeth and everywhere keep watch and ward against the depredations of our American citizens and subjects Vve would fam hope not and we look with contidenc~ to the new administration to take efficient measures to reassure Spain to indemnify her for the wrongs she has suffered in conseshyquence of our remissness and to relieve her from the necessity of keeping up any extra garrison in Cuba to protect her posshysession of that island from the aggressions 0 persons subject to the government of the United States We have full conti dence that in the hands of the present Secretary of State the errors and blunders of his predecessor will be repaired and that our foreign relations will be mapaged wit) wisdom aDd en-

NEW SERIES -VOL IV NO I~ 65

514

L

The Cuban EXPfdiliQn [Oct

ergy with jealus re~ard to the right~ and feelings of other nashytiOIlS and to the dignity and honor 01 our OWI1

e hope too that our citizens will participate in tle r~acshytioll against wild and lawless demoCl~cy or ned Uepubhcalllsm which appears to have commenced In the Old Vorld and that remembering that justice exalteth a nation while sin is a reproach to allY people they will retrace their steps and return to the wholesome principles embodied in their fundamental institushytions It is time for them to pay less attention to the acquisishytion of territory and more to the acquisition and maintenance of national honor Ve hae morally considered fallen to a

depth but we hae not fallen so low that we cannot if we choose rise again Ve have prided ourselves on our inshy

have claimed to be a model republic Ve are not as a people wholly insensible to the opinions of the ized world and we wish all nations to admire our stitutions and to model their own after them This able enough But we cannot expect them to do it unless we retrace our steps and show that we ourseh-es adhere to the princi pIes of our institu1ions and are governed by them

Hitherto republicanism in the Old Vorld has been assoshyciate1 in the minds of intelligent and honest people with barbarshyism tbe absence of public and priate virtue contempt of religshy

)on disregard of the most sacred obligations and relations the loss of personal freedom war on the Church on morality on property on the family and on society itself It should ha e been oms to haye prOed by our example that this is only an accidental character of republicanism and that a people may be republican may dispen~e wilh kings and lords without lapsing into barbarism or interrupting the progress of Christian civilization - thai such a people mfly be cultiYated and moral refined and religious free and loyal respecting the rights of God as well as the rights o( man presening the sanctity of marriage and the integrity of the family respecting the rights of property the rights of sovereignty and the independence of nations and maintaining peace and order under the reign of

This should have been our mission but we have been recreant to it we hae ben latterly identifying republicanism with democracy and AmerIcan democracy with the European and domg our best to pi-oe oy our example that in all lands democracy degenerates into license becomes immoral irreshyli~ious and ~ggresshe We hae been furnishing kings and aristocrats wtli strong arguments against republicanism and in

1850] Tile Cuban Expedition 511 favor f t~Jeir system of government Instead of aiding the emancipatiOn of the oppressed of other lands ~e have gin+ th~il masters n~w reasons for withholding from them those fr~ra chlses we so highly esteem and have double riveted the chan of the slave The Christian world may well exclaiol in viev of our example for the last twenty years God save tbe king for if licentious anu despotic kings are bad licentious and agshygressive democracies ar~ worse

Ve are for ourselves neither monarchists nor aristocrats but according to the best of our knowledge and ability a loyal A111~rican citizen i yet we cannot shut our eyes to the dangershyOilS and utterly immorahnd dishonorable career upon which the

American people to a fearful extent have entered It is diffishycult it may be too late to arrest them but as one of the peoshyple as one who yields ~o no man in bis love ofhis co~ntry and attachment to her government we assure them that they will never secure true freedom and prosperity in the way they have thus far sought them If they value national honor)f they love liuerty they must return to the recognition of law the obligashytions of morality and the duty of r~ligious faith and worship No nation can recede from law without falling into anarchy or depart from God without precipitating itself into hell All is not gold that glitters All change is not improvement All motion is not progress and every povelty is not a conquest frommiddot the domain of truth Let out citizens meditate these commonshyplac~s and lorm a more just estimate of themselves They have territory enough - quite too mpch they have rooillfor all the virtuous expansion of which they are capabl~ let them learn to be content with what they hae and tbat it is as base tQ steal a province from a neighbouring state as it is to pick a neighbours pocket or to steal his sheep

Ve bave taken no notice of what is said ~bout the tyranny with which Spain governs Cuba for we have no authority to sushyper~ise her internal adminis~ra~ion and are bound to treat her as an mdependent and a ChrIStian natIOn middotWe must annulolir treaty with her before we can put ber out of the pale of civilshyized nations and we must put her out of that pale before we can have any ripht to supervise or interfere with her treatmeAt of her Qwn subjects But what is said about Spanish tyranny and oppression in her colonies is all unfounded $pain do~s not oppress and never has oppressed her colonial subjectsand Cuba would have far less real freedom asa democracy than she enjoys as a province of the Spani~h monarchy So it was said

517 Cumcr~(llions of em Old ~11(11I lOct51G

that tbe other A lIlcrican qolollies of Spain were oppresscd and as far back as I cllcronj residellce ill Paris as the lIlinio-ler of the A 1l1erican confctler~cy intriglles were begun ilh liS to COIIshy

Crt them into independent rpublics Ve neetl only 10 COIl1shy

pare what they arc nowwith what they were tinder Spain to cOlllprehend the alue of bsertions as to Spani~h tyrallny and oppression Let liS lea~ ned Hepublicull calli learn to be just alld honorable alld Jlbor to secure liberty at home ~o slJall Ie best promote freedom abroad

A HT Y - Conlcrwlions of an Old 1an leitlt rUW)gt

Friend 0 1 V

C OTWlTlST~DlG all you say your doctrine is disshywleuroful humiliatill and repugnant to the natural instincts and aspirations of dJe human heart

B 0 doubt of it But is that to its reproaeh or to yours C How can you expect us to embrace a doctrine repugnant

to our feelims and tastes that contradicts our natural tendenshycies and aspirations

B I do not expect you to embrace it by a natural predilecshytion and it is certain that you cannot embrace it without the grace of God moving and assisting you to do so

Z But is it not a sufficient condemnation of a religion that it is contrary to our nature above our natural strength and can be enlbraced only by iolence to our nature

B If our nature were sufficient of itself to attain the end for which its Ilaker has intended it and if it had not fallen and beshycome corrupt and ellfeebled perhaps so

W Surely our nature is all that God has made it and it would be unjust on his part to demand of it what it is not able to do

B That all may be and yet God may justly appoint us to a destiny abme our natural reach because he may provide us with graces and help~ aboe our natural powers adequate to its allainment - nd in this he ould show himself not only just but superabounding in goodness In our nature he has promshyised us only Ihe good to which that nature by its own powers is adequate But in the order of grace he provides something better a far higher good for us and furnishes us with sufficient

~

~~

r

if j

~ ~J I

1

1 d

1 ~

1 1-t 1l 1 1 jI J ~ ~ 1

i ~

~

bull1850 ] Cunversations oj an Old Man bull

means to obtain it~ Instead of murmuring at this we should be grateful for it and see in it an additional motive for 10e atd gratitude to him

Z But why l1~ed this supernatural destiny be attainable odry by Violence to ollr nature I see no reason why we might not

been so made tha nature and grace should aspire to the sallle end so that we mIght have followed our nature and grace at the same time

B Such in a certain sense was the case with us prior to Prior to sin our nature was turned towards God was held

by grace in subjection to his law and it required no interior struggle to fulfil it and attain our supernatural destiny But Ly sin that grace was lost and our nature became turned away from God and inclined to evil In consequence of this our nature that is the flesh is now opposed to God and we can obey his law and live for our supernatural destiny only by doing violence 19 it Hence you see that a religion may be very

very lIoly and indispensable to our salvation and yet be very distasteful to the natural man and altogether repugnant to the instincts and aspirations of the natural heart

Z But one cannot believe what he finds repugnant to his natural feelings

B That were some comfort if it were true but in the various vicissitudes of life I findmiddot myself obliged to believe many things exceedingly repugnant to my feelings There are a great many disagreeable truths even in the order of nature ~bich all of us are compelled to believemiddot

Z I am in the habit of relying on my feelings t and when I find I cannot feel with you in what you say I say at once I do not and cannot believe with you I do not like your doctrine for it sacrifices the pnre feelings the noble emotions and the gentle affections of the human heart to the cold propositions and rigid deductions of a dry and inexorable logic

B Such may be your habit but the question for you to deshytermine is whether it be commendable or- the reverse If the propositions and deductions of Jogic are true if they conform to reality your feelings emotions~ anlJatrections which are opposed to them are false and are neither pure nor noble qlq if followed leqd into falsehood and sin They are repugnant to truth and therefore they not the propositions and deductions are in fault

Z But I am tired of dry and rigid logic of the cold forms of (be intellect 1 waut the bearl) ~hc warm and loving heart

I

flIt 0 N SO N S

llE VIEW i

11111 lt1r (PlldllCid hy tIlt tntlllllan whose Ilame It lealS

1- dyoftd 1 UtliIOll Philosophy aud ntIINal Literatllre It is pllhli~Hd ty glmiddotI~IIgt II (HEENE for the proprietor 011 the

firs day o( 11111111) pril lilly awl O(toiJer l-acll mmiher

cllnllills 11 1Ist IIi j1II ~vn and tlle fOllr lIlunbers make a -(lillil of 11 PIf~ whicll IS ttlllli~llc(l to ~lbfgt(riber~ at TlIltFE

I)()III- ll 111111111 0 sllhqiption ifgt reeeivld for a shorter IllIIt 111111 filii ytIl lIld pwil snbscriptioll mnst he for the clItire 1liIT(1I1 gt1111111 gIllls will hI nllowpd t rli~col1nt or 20 l)rr ImiddotlIf laIIllllh (1111 IIII Illartl~rly (roln tIl otliprs illvariahly

ill 111111 11 lIl1l1tllllliltIOIiS 1111Lst he uldnssetl pm ptliti lrllVlhII Qlllrl t r Hnjpw I Instill 1IIos M 10 the SlIl)shy

~nilltr Ih~J ] L ChnrNF I t V ASill N(IO N SIItImiddotFT llOSTON lLus

1II1IIiIl101 131h l1aJ I8middotHI II II( SII

f1ur 11 (10 I 0111 (lulleil I slIf-g-(stpII to 01lT ven~mhlo metropolitan I IlOprl1 y I (IIt1 rag-ill- Y0lt Iy otir llllwlmtion and illllll~tlc to continllo yllHf liltrary blum ill 11-111) of Ih failh of tieh you have proved an aille ant IlIlnlltl ado(alu 110 nlv th sllgrpsti(lu most readily ao1 1 taketI Illwrty I lOlllIHIIlifalillg lh faell0 YOIl as a IlIlIrk of my llillCere esteem alld of Ih dlI 1lIlIrst I lil ill your W(II)tlmlt Ituviuw J shall heg of him and oi thr 11ahs Ito Clllllriaiu llH~ ~alllt) views 10 suhscrihe their lames in conshylirtllalltll or llly slalulIlllIl Yonr very t1nvot1 friml

t IollANel 1fltICK K ENUICI( (I IIItltgtWhO) 11lt1 Bishop HI Philadelphia

l S~liI AlehlJihol of lIallilll(lI t RWIIA ItIl PlUS msliop of Nashvillo t limiddotTfH HIfIIAHIl irchhiholl of St t JOliN lAP1IST Bishup of Cincinnati

100ti~ t JOliN 111Jlims Bishop of NeW York i illtl Fl 1ligtIIOP of lIluloilo t 11CILIIl V J~fCNT lIishop or Hichshy1 NIilO Bishop of New (lrJeall~ UHHui i JOII) JlS~ll lIiHhop of Nahhez t JAMIS OIIm Bi~h(Jp of Chicagoi JOliN IliHlw of llllllillo 1JUliN 1 IhNNl Hilthop of Milshyt i1 OCUNNOR Bishop of Jillhllrg waukee i 11 HlllAS Bishop of JJnhllltIUe t JOI) Bishop of Alhany tJ OliN 11 (JlIIN Bishop of favI~lon t AM~lnIS BiRWp of Cleveland t lAITIN TOliN lIiRl101 of Lnugonc t 111gt1 PA UL Bishop 7elt CoatJjlJtor

alit Couljntor of Louisville Adminitltralor of Detroit t M tHmiddot ST 1 AJ~ I~ Bishop oj Vinshy t IUNATlUs AL JhVNOII)S Bishop of

(~enll(~~ Charleston t VHIlA ~1 TnI Bi~holllr Ilartfonl t ANllIlIcW illYllNES Bishop of Little t J B FntlATltlCK lIihitop of Boshin tuck

j